


Number One Crush

by ShatteredSwallowtail



Series: Second Sunrise [4]
Category: Bleach
Genre: F/M, Genesis-verse, Second Sunrise
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-07
Updated: 2019-09-07
Packaged: 2020-10-12 01:35:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,170
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20556047
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShatteredSwallowtail/pseuds/ShatteredSwallowtail





	Number One Crush

Closing her eyes, the little girl in the crimson-hued coat took a deep, shakey breath, clenching her baby-blue gloved hands tighter around the folded blue wool. Squeezing grey eyes closed, she puffed her cheeks and blew it out slowly, repeating her mental mantra. She shouldn't be afraid, she was a Quincy and Quincy's were brave and fearless. They defeated Hollows and stood against the vain and selfish shinigami. Or at least, that was what her father said. Ishida Hanako herself thought that Hollows were terrifying things, and that the shinigami she knew all seemed like nice, agreeable people. But then, she was only 10, so maybe she just didn't know yet.

Shaking her head, long snow-flecked brown hair sliding over her shoulders, Hanako pursed her lips, scrunching up her face into an almost scowl. Maybe that would work. After all, Uncle Ichigo always scowled, and he wasn't afraid of _anything_. Except maybe Aunt Rukia. But even then, maybe the scowl worked like some sort of armour. Mentally she pictured her 'uncle's' familiar orange-haired face, and superimposed his mask over it. Yes, that was right. Like armour. She watched, in an almost detached way, as the picture in her mind shifted, the mask's colour changing as it turned into something more like the armoured helms that knights wore in fairy stories. Only.... Uncle Ichigo wouldn't have been a normal knight, and calling him 'Sir Ichigo' only served to turn his head into a plump red strawberry. Uncle Strawberry, who reached out creepy vine arms, and then-

She let out a squeak, shaking her head to dispell the strangely disturbing image. That was weird... she'd have to tell her mother about it. Her mother always seemed to understand those sorts of things better. Shifting small feet in their pristine white boots with the blue ribbon trim on them -- she liked blue, and the ribbons matched the ones in her hair and the stones in her hairclips -- Hanako glanced again at the big wooden door with it's slightly faded steel grey paint. It still sat silent at the end of the sidewalk, the usual mesh of bodies going in and out conspicuously absent. Which made sense, seeing as it was a Saturday and there were very few kids who went to school on Saturday, Renji was the exception and that was only because of kendo and even then-. Shaking her head, she chewed on her lower lip. She was rambling again, whatever rambling actually meant, but she thought it had something to do with letting her mind wander, and while that was somtimes enjoyable, her father said it wasn't always a good thing and that she should-.

Her most recent bout of rambling was broken by the creak as the door finally swung open and a dozen or so kids her age spilled out, most of them boys and all of them talking rather loudly and animatedly. Hanako felt her eyes widen and her cheeks grow warm as she easily picked out the familiar figure of Kurosaki Renji in his green jacket among them, coppery eyes bright below black bangs as he responded to a joke one of the other boys had made. With a gasp and a small eep, she ducked back behind the comforting brick corner of the other building, gulping to keep from hyperventilating as she clutched the blue plaid to her chest. She hadn't thought about how there would be other people there, about how Renji still went to normal school, unlike his older siblings who were homeschooled now that they were learning to be shinigami.

She could hear him coming closer, his voice growing louder as the cluster of boys approached, and she closed her eyes tight, counting in her head -- her mother had said it worked, that you could count anything, and that she liked to count the clouds in the sky and then pretend they were huge puffs of smoke, except sometimes then the smoke would turn to fire and the town would be burning down and it would be all her fault and -- Before she could take another moment to be indecisive, Hanako darted out from behind the corner, skidding to a stop in front of Renji, who stopped short and stared at her for a moment before grinning like he always did, flecks of winter snow clinging to his dark ponytail.

"Hi Hanako!"

"H...H...Hi!"

Her voice came out as a squeak, which didn't make much sense because Renji was her friend and she'd certainly told him 'hi' before with no problems. Either way, it didn't seem to bother Renji, who simply stood there expectantly, his head cocked to the side, good-natured smile on his 10-year old face. Swallowing past the butterflies in her stomach -- they would be blue butterflies, because she liked them, or maybe they should be black, for the jigokuchou, because Renji was a shinigami, or at least he _would_ be when he got older and shinigami used jigokuchou as messengers -- she thrust the bundled wool at him, nearly dropping the plaid scarf in the process.

"Thisisforyou!"

And again, her voice came out in a rushed and high-pitched squeak as she stared at the ground, cheeks burning and heart racing. Renji stared at the scarf for a moment before grinning widely and taking the length of pale blue patterned wool from her hands.

"Thanks, Hanako!"

He easily draped the scarf around his neck and shoulders, adjusting it against the cold, before turning orange-hued eyes back to her with an apologetic expression.

"It's really nice, but I feel bad because I don't have anything for you."

She shook her head so hard her braids snapped like whips, eliciting a startled yelp of pain as one long plait of hair cracked across her face. Rubbing the injured spot with a slight whimper, she shook her head again.

"No, no, no... it's ok. Really."

Renji considered that for a moment, before shrugging his shoulders with a quick shake of his head. It wasn't nice to have a girl get you a present and not get her anything in return, even if she was a friend like Hanako -- his mother would have said _especially_ if she was a friend -- but if it was a big deal to Hanako, then he supposed it was ok. Taking hands out of his pockets, he gave her a quick hug.

"It's ok, Hanako. I'll find something good for you too, but I've gotta go home now. I'll see you on Monday!"

Her eyes widened as large as saucers, the flush on her cheeks spreading to her entire face as he hugged her, biting her lip against the startled yelp of surprise. Frozen, she watched as Renji pulled back and smiled before waving and darting off past her, jogging down the path towards home. As his footsteps faded, she found herself still staring at the ground for a long moment as she caught her breath with a little smile, hugging her arms around herself before turning and running home.


End file.
